November, 19 2 0 
31 
Near Hollywood is a one-story cottage reminiscent of the French 
farmhouse. At one corner rises a round tower, with maid’s room 
above and dining room below 
Architectural good taste and convenience have been boiled down until 
the result is the concentrated essence of a real house, not a potpourri 
of monstrosities 
and delightful, why will people go to the 
trouble and expense of these roofs held up 
by truncated cones instead of posts, porch 
roofs supported by chains, chimneys made of 
brick and stone to imitate small-pox? Archi¬ 
tecture is supposed to reflect the times we live 
in. I don’t know what these hideosities re¬ 
flect. The best small houses reflect a time 
when people of good taste and refinement 
choose to live simply and comfortably, to do 
away with every ounce of unnecessary work, 
so that they can devote themselves to the pleas¬ 
ing task of living, and when the best in archi¬ 
tecture and mechanical invention is at their 
command. 
So build a small house. Begin at once. 
Subscribe to some house magazine, buy a 
scrap-book, paste and scissors, and start cut¬ 
ting out. Buy or borrow from 
the library a book on architec¬ 
ture. You will be surprised 
at how fascinating the sub¬ 
ject is. Draw some tentative 
plans, and then see an archi¬ 
tect. It will seem only a step 
from this to the enchanted 
moment when this house is 
done and your dream is 
realized. You will be stand¬ 
ing on the doorstep of your 
own home, your little, mod¬ 
ern, convenient, satisfying, 
adorable cottage home. 
Many living problems 
are to be solved by giv¬ 
ing up the large house 
for the small 
are being built nowadays by architects who 
have boiled down good taste and convenience 
till they have the concentrated essence of a 
real house. 
A here are the little Belgian cottages which 
are one of the pleasing results of the war, 
built by two young camoufleurs who received 
their inspiration while with the A. E. F. With 
their quaint green and brown and blue varie¬ 
gated shingles, and plaster walls, they are 
miniature French farmhouses to which every 
modern convenience has been added. 
Consider this one from Hollywood, the town 
of make-believe, where the movies come from. 
It is of one story, with a steep roof of mot¬ 
tled shingles simulating the mossy effect of 
age. A round tower goes up from one corner. 
Downstairs this is a round dining room, with 
windows on all sides like a 
bird cage, and just half a 
step from the kitchen which 
is tiny and convenient. A 
winding stairway goes up to 
the maid’s room in the tower, 
and what maid could resist 
such an adorable winding 
stair and room overlooking 
the country far and wide? 
Then there is a living room, 
long rather than large, two 
bedrooms with a bathroom in 
between, and a delicious lit¬ 
tle garden with a lily-pond 
just outside the glass door. 
Nobody could resist such a 
house. It is like the witch’s 
cottage in the woods, with win¬ 
dows made of barley sugar. 
There is one of these Belgian cottages in 
Santa Monica, right opposite the house that 
has been presented to Maeterlinck. And then 
there is the English cottage style. I must con¬ 
fess that that is what my soul leans to. Just 
look at some of them, with their gables snubbed 
off at the corners, to remind one of thatch, their 
diamond or square-paned windows, and little 
canopied entrance doors. 
Other Styles 
And then there is just plain house, the roof 
brought down to make a porch, and perhaps a 
paling fence in front with hollyhocks looking 
over it. 
There is also the Colonial, of white clap¬ 
boards, with a pretty portico and long windows. 
When it is so easy to build something simple 
The wkite-clapboarded Colonial type, with portico and long windows, 
retains the simplicity of its larger relatives. Climbing roses about the 
door add a pleasant touch of color 
Saner judgment has turned from the brick-and-stone chimneys, porch 
roofs hung on chains, and other grotesque features and is demanding 
more sensible, conservative cottages 
